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Another Fall Knocks Kildow Out of Alpine Combined

SESTRIERE, Italy, Feb. 17 Â Lindsey Kildow left the finish area limping badly, leaning on a ski pole in each hand as she walked. Her second attempt to race after a jarring crash in training on Monday ended with another fall tonight, this time in the second run of the slalom portion of the women's Alpine combined.

"I can't ski the way I want; my back hurts so bad," said Kildow, who needed help getting off the race course and was disqualified. "It's frustrating but I'm happy to be here."

Asked if she thought she would race again in the Turin Olympics, Kildow smiled and said, "I hope so."

In a three-stage event interrupted by inclement weather and rescheduled for a Saturday finish, the world's two best women skiers, Anja Paerson and Janica Kostelic, for the first time put their stamp on the Alpine competition in western Italy's mountains. Paerson, the reigning world champion, and Kostelic, ranked second last year, were neck-and-neck again after today's two slalom runs with Kostelic leading her chief rival by 38 hundredths of a second.

Marlies Schild of Austria led after the two slalom runs, 0.46 ahead of second-place Kostelic. But Schild is a slalom specialist, and in the downhill portion of the event, it is unlikely her lead will hold up against Paerson and Kostelic, two of the world's most talented all-around skiers, unless they fall or seriously falter.

"It was a good start after a long day," said Kostelic, who has been suffering from the flu, did not race Wednesday in the women's downhill and gave no guarantees that she would be healthy enough for Saturday's conclusion of the combined. "We'll see what happens tomorrow."

Resi Stiegler was the top American finisher with a time 2 minutes 22 seconds behind Schild. Her teammate Julia Mancuso was 3 minutes 38 seconds back.

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There is more stormy weather in the forecast for the area near Sestriere on Saturday. Today, race officials called off the downhill portion of the event after just one racer, Nika Fleiss of Croatia, crested the race course's first jump and fell backward. She later said the gusting wind had knocked her over.

"I had no control over what was happening," Fleiss said. "It was really dangerous."

Fleiss managed to finish her run because she fell to her side and skidded to a stop without missing a gate. But seconds after she passed the finish line, the race referee Atle Skaardal prevented the next competitor from leaving the start gate, and shortly thereafter, postponed the race.

Schild also won the first run of the slalom, which Kildow completed. Kildow was in 11th place at that point but was clearly grimacing in pain after the run. In her second time down the slalom race course, Kildow, who was trying only to stay close to the leaders during the slalom portions because she is an adept downhiller, had a good start. But she soon found herself in trouble approaching two quick turns, called a flush, about halfway down the course. Late on her turns, leaning back and sideways, her skis slipped from under her and she fell on her right hip.

Kildow did not get up for about 30 seconds and lay on her back until a course worker helped her to her feet. She skied to the edge of the race course then crumpled back to the snow for several minutes. Eventually, Kildow skied down the side of the course and was greeted by her teammate Kaylin Richardson, who hugged her.

Because she was disqualified, Kildow will have Saturday off to get ready for her next race, the super-G on Sunday. She is also entered in Wednesday's slalom and Friday's giant slalom.

"It could be a blessing in disguise that I'm not racing tomorrow," Kildow said in the finish area tonight. "It's been difficult because I'm not able to do the things on my skis that I want to. Hopefully, I'll have better luck in the near future."